Seals Animals

The European Commission on Thursday proposed to extend for an unlimited period its five-year-old ban on imports of seal pup skins. The commission, the executive body of the 12-member European Community, said its decision was based on the Norwegian government's announced intention to resume seal pup hunting as soon as the ban expires.

In the annals of smuggling, Los Angeles International Airport has seen it all ? lizards in luggage, songbirds strapped to a passenger's legs, boxes of tarantulas and two pygmy monkeys hidden in a traveler's pants. Now, officials said, they have recorded another milestone in the animal kingdom ? smuggled turtles. Authorities said two Japanese men were arrested with more than 50 live rare turtles, from Chinese big-headed turtles to Indian Star tortoises, packed neatly inside snack food boxes.

Tens of thousands of seals along Namibia's desert coastline have died in the worst disaster on record to hit the country's Cape Fur seal colonies. Teams of workers Friday started clearing away rotting carcasses of seal pups, which apparently starved to death. The fisheries ministry said that "unusual oceanographic conditions" had profoundly affected the fish on which the 750,000 Cape Fur seals feed along the southwest coast of Africa.

The relationships start with a Web site posting. Personality counts as well as looks. The warmth builds via e-mail exchanges, followed finally by face-to-face bonding. Yes, the Seal Beach animal shelter's 2-year-old e-adoption system has really been moving those cats out the door and into loving homes. This year, feline adoptions are at 473, up by nearly 100 cats over last year, with December numbers still to come.

Beach-goers may see unattended baby seals on local beaches for the next three months, during harbor seal pupping season in California. No one should touch or remove a baby seal from the beach, said Hilda Diaz-Soltero, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "A harbor seal pup cannot feed or care for itself," Diaz-Soltero said, "and it probably will not survive if separated from its mother."

Two northern elephant seal pups, malnourished and dehydrated, were slowly recovering Wednesday at a Laguna Beach marine mammal shelter after rescuers plucked them from the sand Tuesday afternoon in back-to-back rescue operations. Mickey and Minnie--as they are called by their rescuers--were found Tuesday afternoon by Crystal Cove State Beach lifeguards, near Laguna Beach. The mammals, which can grow to a length of 16 feet and weigh up to 4 tons, were taken to safety by the Friends of the Sea Lion, a Laguna Beach group.

Leaders of the nonprofit Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Shelter say the city is not paying its fair share of the cost to care for homeless animals. Members of the volunteer organization are asking city officials to increase the funding of shelter operations to $9,000 a year from $800. A city task force is being formed to resolve the funding issue. "The question that's being posed is, how much should it cost for them to provide this service?" interim City Manager Jack Shelver said.

The relationships start with a Web site posting. Personality counts as well as looks. The warmth builds via e-mail exchanges, followed finally by face-to-face bonding. Yes, the Seal Beach animal shelter's 2-year-old e-adoption system has really been moving those cats out the door and into loving homes. This year, feline adoptions are at 473, up by nearly 100 cats over last year, with December numbers still to come.

In the annals of smuggling, Los Angeles International Airport has seen it all ? lizards in luggage, songbirds strapped to a passenger's legs, boxes of tarantulas and two pygmy monkeys hidden in a traveler's pants. Now, officials said, they have recorded another milestone in the animal kingdom ? smuggled turtles. Authorities said two Japanese men were arrested with more than 50 live rare turtles, from Chinese big-headed turtles to Indian Star tortoises, packed neatly inside snack food boxes.

Louise Firouz, an American expatriate in Iran credited with saving the pony-sized Caspian horse from extinction and championing an ancestral link to the prized Arabian breed, died of lung and liver failure May 25 at a hospital near her home in northeastern Iran. She was 74. Firouz spent part of her childhood on her family's farm in Great Falls, Va., where she developed an interest in animal husbandry.

Leaders of the nonprofit Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Shelter say the city is not paying its fair share of the cost to care for homeless animals. Members of the volunteer organization are asking city officials to increase the funding of shelter operations to $9,000 a year from $800. A city task force is being formed to resolve the funding issue. "The question that's being posed is, how much should it cost for them to provide this service?" interim City Manager Jack Shelver said.

Beach-goers may see unattended baby seals on local beaches for the next three months, during harbor seal pupping season in California. No one should touch or remove a baby seal from the beach, said Hilda Diaz-Soltero, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "A harbor seal pup cannot feed or care for itself," Diaz-Soltero said, "and it probably will not survive if separated from its mother."

Tens of thousands of seals along Namibia's desert coastline have died in the worst disaster on record to hit the country's Cape Fur seal colonies. Teams of workers Friday started clearing away rotting carcasses of seal pups, which apparently starved to death. The fisheries ministry said that "unusual oceanographic conditions" had profoundly affected the fish on which the 750,000 Cape Fur seals feed along the southwest coast of Africa.

Two northern elephant seal pups, malnourished and dehydrated, were slowly recovering Wednesday at a Laguna Beach marine mammal shelter after rescuers plucked them from the sand Tuesday afternoon in back-to-back rescue operations. Mickey and Minnie--as they are called by their rescuers--were found Tuesday afternoon by Crystal Cove State Beach lifeguards, near Laguna Beach. The mammals, which can grow to a length of 16 feet and weigh up to 4 tons, were taken to safety by the Friends of the Sea Lion, a Laguna Beach group.

The European Commission on Thursday proposed to extend for an unlimited period its five-year-old ban on imports of seal pup skins. The commission, the executive body of the 12-member European Community, said its decision was based on the Norwegian government's announced intention to resume seal pup hunting as soon as the ban expires.

The Marine Mammal Care Center at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro could be called an orphanage for lost baby seals and sea lions. It scoops up those disoriented pups and yearlings who have become weak from not eating and puts them back on the road to recovery. And on Sunday, at its second annual "Day of the Seal," the center will demonstrate how it gets the animals into shape for their return to the sea. At 9 a.m.